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Shepard is a genius, violent machine, ready to bring his boots down on the corrupt, the evil, and the genocidal machines. What inspired me to write him in such a manner was Thairon, the protagonist of my original story, Arrival : Ruptures. Comments, likes and reviews are appreciated. Here are the links for : AO3, Spacebattles, Royal Road and Webnovel.
—
Perseus Veil
Tikkun System
Rannoch
Tali stepped out of the Normandy in a daze.
She was on Rannoch, the home of the quarian people, and Tali'Zorah vas Normandy was the first one to step foot on its surface.
All because her boyfriend wanted to have a barbecue party on the planet, and the geth had agreed.
It was beautiful and everything she ever imagined.
"Shepard-Commander, welcome to Rannoch," the greeting committee, in the form of a geth prime, dropped down near their position.
"Sup, Red? This place is really nice."
"This location was popular among the creators for its pleasing aesthetics," the synthetic explained the reason for the chosen location, and Shepard could see it.
"Thanks." He patted Red on the shoulder, just as he would to an organic.
Treat them as you would your own, and the geth would make great friends.
"Alright people, get the grill and the food out; it's time to party."
—
Tali, in lieu of her situation, sat out of the preparations, watching the horizon while sitting still as a statue.
"Hey, how is my favorite quarian doing?"
"I don't know." Tali rested her head on Shepard's shoulder.
"Don't worry, if all this works, we can have the quarians settle on Rannoch really soon."
"Anyone else, I'd wish them good luck with convincing the Admiralty Board and the Conclave. But with you, I suppose I should choose a beachfront property; there won't be much left soon."
"That's the spirit."
—
The celebration was grander than the one after the victory against Sovereign, and they had even invited geth units to witness how humans interacted in a friendly environment for educational purposes.
Premium sources of protein from all across the galaxy, paired with delicacies and sweet drinks, even Grunt had managed to eat until his stomach looked ready to burst.
As a surprise to the Migrant Fleet, he had even recorded the entire party so they could see that the geth weren't the boogeymen the quarians made them out to be, except for the now extinct heretics.
If it worked, he promised the station to Geth because the synthetics would be able to refurbish it faster and cheaper than anyone else, since the only economy they needed was energy and materials.
The geth were willing, especially with Shepard as the mediator, and the ball was now in the court of the quarians.
—
Migrant Fleet
"Commander Shepard, welcome once more. We are gathered here at your request, as you are known to have provided invaluable assistance to the Migrant Fleet as a whole."
"Thank you, admirals. I actually came here to speak to you regarding the celebration party I and my crew had." While Shepard spoke to the Conclave, Tali was uploading the recording to the computers.
"A party, commander? Please do not tell me you wished to waste our time with this." Daro'Xen crossed her arms with disdain, and Shepard raised his hand, about to bitch-slap her, but changed his mind.
"It's not the party so much as where it took place that concerns the quarians." With his signal, Tali played the recording of the Normandy's crew gorging themselves on delicious barbecue in an arid world.
"I am not familiar with this planet." Daro'Xen might not have been, but the rest of her compatriots were.
"Really? Man, it's sad that you don't know your homeworld." Shepard shook his head, clicking his tongue in quick succession to show his disapproval.
That broke the cold and calculative look of the admiral. "What?! This is from Rannoch?"
"Duh."
"How did the geth allow you to land on the homeworld? And why?" There was a reverence in Zaal'Koris' voice, as if Shepard were the spirit of an ancestor.
"I asked if we could have a barbecue party on Rannoch, and they were fine with it. Why, the geth even took part to see how friends interacted with each other."
"By the ancestors," Han'Gerrel, as the leader of the faction vying for war with the geth, knew that his chances of swaying the majority of the fleet had just gone up in smoke.
"I'll let you guys stew over this for a while."
—
Next Day
"Commander Shepard," Shala'Raan had sent a message, requesting an immediate meeting, and the lovers had to quickly dress while Tali took her antibiotics.
"Admiral. You don't look good," or rather, she didn't sound to be in good shape.
She did not react to his probing but was obviously tired. "The debates were nonstop, but we have yet to reach a decision. I was hoping your voice might help." She gestured towards the chambers, and he followed.
—
Whenever Shepard was in the parliament, the proceedings would move in a very orderly and courteous manner, contrary to the usual.
And the Conclave was like that right now, as if someone had thrown a pyjack into the middle of a varren den.
With his anti-gravity generator on, Shepard slowly floated up, "Quiet," and his voice cut through the cacophony like an omni-blade through a vorcha.
"That's better," he grunted, still watching the members to see if anyone would break the silence.
"Now, I hear that you guys are debating worse than asari during elections on what to do." Shepard clapped his hands to punctuate his point. "Here is my suggestion."
"The geth have agreed to negotiations with the quarians, with the end goal of achieving lasting peace, and they will allow you to settle back on Rannoch," he explained, and it seemed as if the members of the Conclave advocating for war were about to push back, but in the end, only one member spoke with a meek voice, "They are not trustworthy."
"I vouch for them."
"And if you are wrong?" Han'Gerrel, in the end, wanted the best for his people, and if it required trusting Shepard, then he would make sure all the possible avenues were covered.
"If an individual or a group tries to break the agreement or sabotage the peace, I am going to do to them what I did to that Reaper larva." With the livestream, everyone had seen what they did to the larva and the base.
"The only thing holding you back from settling in Rannoch this day is old wounds. Lay them to rest, or continue to wander the stars." With those words, Shepard turned back and left the chambers.
Now, it was time to wait.
—
By the third day, the Conclave and the Admiralty Board had reached a decision, even if not an anonymous one.
The Migrant Fleet would open negotiations with the Geth Consensus as long as Shepard was the arbiter.
Unfortunately, just because both sides were willing to negotiate did not mean everything could be handled quickly. Normandy would be the neutral ground for the negotiations, and the quarians would send a team consisting of four people at most, while Legion would negotiate for the geth, connected to the Consensus via the QEC.
He had time until the quarians would arrive, so there was one last thing left to do before dismissing the team.
—
"This is going to find the Illusive Man's base?" Jack, who had a vested interest in playing hopscotch in the Illusive Man's chest cavity, looked at the device that was Shepard's months of work.
It was barely her size, with dozens of cables connecting it to the QEC and the reactor inside the ship.
"TIM still believes that EDI is shackled and sends Cerberus data regarding us, which means they did not sever the QEC line on their end."
Shepard had been building a wormhole generator for the purpose of using it with the QEC to tunnel a connection to the other end, using the superluminal telemetry to calculate the exact distance in light-years from their current position, and find the star system where the Illusive Man was roosting.
"Capacitors at full charge," Garrus reported, and Shepard gave the go-ahead. There was a rhythmic hum, growing faster each second, and lightning sparkled as the fabric of reality was torn open.
The gravitational properties of eezo were focused to a singular point through electromagnetic fields, creating a gravity lens in the quantum spacetime and tunneling a wormhole to the other end of the connection.
"Event horizon forming, tunneling starting, T-minus thirty seconds until the connection forms," Mordin, hyperventilating at the sight of a wormhole being formed in front of him, was having the best day of his life so far.
"Superluminal telemetry data is being received," Tali shouted as the electromagnetic fields began to settle down once the wormhole stabilized, and they could receive the telemetry without an issue.
However, the beam shooting from the generator began to flicker. "Capacitors are almost out; switching to the fusion reactor," but Garrus rerouted the power, as they knew the capacitors would be necessary but not enough.
"Three, two, one. Connection formed and stable, the telemetry data stream is continuing," Tali reported as the Normandy's lights began to flicker, and Shepard ordered Garrus to cut the power.
The beam from the generator disappeared, but the wormhole stayed there for exactly two minutes, four seconds, and one hundred and five milliseconds before collapsing to nothingness.
Mordin was ignoring everyone around as he muttered up a storm while analyzing the data.
They had done it.
—
"Based on the available data, the base is currently 24,821 light-years away from this location, in the Horsehead Nebula," EDI, whose calculations were vital for the wormhole generator to work, reported once they were in the meeting room.
"On the map."
The map zoomed in on the Horsehead Nebula, showing a location outside the star systems. "There isn't a star system there, and no one would think to look for a space station in dark space," Jacob explained, but Garrus disagreed.
"Not necessarily. Some star systems are omitted from most maps because of regional hazards, but if we use Shepard's Spectre credentials…" The turian didn't finish the sentence while typing on the holoscreen, and once the proper codes had gone through, a new star system appeared on the map.
Shepard's grin was bloodthirsty, but it was nothing compared to Jack's, "There it is. The Anadius System. Get me Admiral Hackett on the line."
EDI had quickly dialed Hackett's commline, and it wasn't even two seconds in that the grizzly admiral answered, "Commander, excellent work with the Collector Station. You and your team have our gratitude and support should any of you need it."
He didn't know what the Alliance Navy would do without Hackett. "I am sure they appreciate it, Admiral, but I called for a different reason. I found the Illusive Man's base on the Anadius System in the Horsehead Nebula. It's a star system usually omitted from the maps due to the periodic solar bursts."
Hackett slammed his right fist on the open palm of his hand.
It was time the Illusive Man was dragged into the light.
"Anadius System, you say. I'll take the Fifth Fleet since it's the most combat-ready one and meet you there. I am sure the Prime Minister will be happy to hear the good news."
"Yes sir, I'll set course immediately. I'll also tell the Prime Minister to paint the fleet movement as an escort mission for the Collector base to avoid rattling any spies," because there definitely were Cerberus spies in the Navy.
"Godspeed, Commander."
—
The team was ready for one last operation before everyone would be dismissed, as Shepard had to go and report to the brass back on Earth.
Grunt would return to Tuchanka, putting his lessons to good use against the enemies of Clan Urdnot, while Samara wanted to visit her daughters.
The preliminary medical examinations had shown that the unnatural concentration of dark matter present on Ardat-Yakshi nervous systems was no longer a case for Morinth, and as Shepard's biotic abilities were famous across the galaxy, especially for power and control, it was assumed that his biotics had dispersed the concentration on Morinth's system.
The genetics of the condition still existed, and any pureblood child of hers would most likely inherit the same condition, but by all means, Morinth's condition had been rendered dormant.
Of course, that did not absolve her of the crimes she had committed.
Unfortunately, replicating whatever he had done to Morinth wasn't possible through alternate means unless the asari researchers took readings while Shepard melded with an Ardat-Yakshi.
The timing wasn't good, and Tali was pissed, but Samara had gone as far as to kneel and beg so at least two of her daughters could live normal lives, softening the quarian's heart.
Garrus wanted to go and prepare Palaven for the war, using his and his father's old contacts to aid wherever he could.
Thane would spend his remaining time with Kolyat, while EDI still searched the massive data the Collectors had for anything on the drell.
Zaeed had promised to gather some of the toughest mercs he knew for an elite strike force to hit the locations Shepard could not once the Reapers came rolling.
Miranda and Jacob took it on themselves to convince more people to desert from Cerberus, especially planning to target scientists to deprive any remnants of the organization from making use of any other sources of Reaper tech.
Kasumi did not reveal anything, saying she would go where the thrill took her.
Mordin planned to head back to Sur'Kesh to fix a mistake, and he guessed their debates on the nature of the genophage had an effect on the salarian.
Jack had no idea what to do other than go on a crime spree, but fortunately for the former convict, Shepard had an idea.
Grissom Academy could use a biotic like Jack for practical lessons, such as how to fight around a stronger biotic user, and she could use the chance to find a place to belong.
Legion would return to the Consensus, who were already preparing for war, and as a sign of goodwill, Shepard had given them the blueprints for the anti-proton torpedoes and Capital-class laser weapons.
While there was no peace between the geth and the quarians yet, Reapers would not spare either side, and even in neutrality, the geth fleets would pose a greater threat to the enemy with the upgrades.
The quarians too were given the same knowledge, but they didn't have the industrial base to retrofit their fleets en masse, though Legion had informed him that the Consensus would help upgrade the Migrant Fleet if peace could be achieved.
The more guns to shoot at the Reapers, the better.
And Hailey would stick with him since she was still an Alliance marine and a part of the Interplanetary Combatives Academy.
By now, he would rate her as an N-4 at the least. She had rough edges that needed polishing and was on the right track.
In a couple months more, the Alliance would have another excellent operative.
Tali wanted to stay with him, but she knew going to the fleet to champion for peace and integration with the geth would be more help to him and the war.
Though if Shepard could further his work on the wormhole generator, perhaps the distance wouldn't be so long.
It all would wait until they arrested or killed the Illusive Man.
—
In the next chapter:
Leaving the marines to take care of the rest, Shepard and his team made a beeline for the Illusive Man. There weren't any enemies until he was climbing a ladder and someone had fired a rocket at them.
Shepard was near the top when the explosion tore the ladder to pieces, and he found a cyborg with a blade in front of him, watching him like a cat would a mouse.
"Shepard, I was looking forward to this."
"You shouldn't. You brought a knife to a gunfight."
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